Affinity

Chapter 24 - Miko

A/N: Hey everyone, Hemza here with this week's chapter! No strong content warnings for this chapter, but we'll be getting into some pretty intense stuff in the next few chapters, so just wanted to give a heads-up! Enjoy!

The feeling of the blue flame user's had on the back of her neck fed into an uncontrollable itch down Emiko's spine. His hands were large and his fingers nearly wrapped completely around her throat. Beside her, Katsuki stared out at their classmates surrounding them. His eyes were wide and full of terror, something Emiko swore she'd never seen a look like that in his eyes.

"Shoto!" She screamed, struggling against the hand holding her in place. She winced as the fingers tightened around her neck, fingers digging into her flesh painfully. Her airway was cut off, and she soon felt her head growing light.

The man behind her chuckled darkly as he loosened his grip, and Emiko watched as Shoto turned to glare at the man holding her captive. The giant, undulating void of darkness behind her was emitting a painfully cold breeze and she struggled to avoid shivering. She stood still, each of her muscles held painfully tight.

Her classmates all stood still, too. Staring at her and Katsuki, no doubt willing their limbs to move. Their eyes were wild and filled with fear. Izuku pumping his legs furiously to try and eat up the ground between them, and Emiko could see the pain was slowly chipping away at the façade of strength he was displaying. She could see Izuku screaming something, but everything was drowned out by the frantic beating of her heart, a massive bass drum rattling off a frenzied rhythm.

Oh, Izuku.

Her mind was racing as she tried to come up with some way to escape the bind she found herself in, but each time she adjusted her footing or tried to move slightly, the grip on her neck tightened. His fingers were painfully tight around her throat - the rough edge of his nails just barely digging into the smooth flesh there. She knew they would leave scars if she kept struggling, tiny little crescent moons to match the ones she left on her own palms.

She was dragged roughly backwards, stumbling slightly as she moved. She could feel the fingers of darkness wrapping around her ankles and waist. She stared into Shoto's eyes as the inky blackness began to cloud her vision, and she felt the tears welling up, threatening to spill over her lashes.

I'll find you, she mouthed to him, unsure if he could even tell what she was trying to say from the distance. I'll always find you.

She hoped she could. Hoped that in those final, fleeting moments of desperation he knew what she was trying to say. She hoped he was able to see that she was telling him everything she'd wanted to say but been too afraid to say before. Her eyes were telling him she loved him. The tears that dampened her cheeks were not only for fear of the unknown, but also for the realization that she needed him to know she loved him.

I love you, her mind spun as she fog took hold. I love you.

---

She didn't know how long she'd been sitting in the dark. It could've been hours or days, since she had no way of knowing when the sun had risen or set. Her hands were bound behind her, pulling her shoulders back in an awkward and painful way. The rope holding her in place dug into her flesh, tore at the sensitive part of her wrist and made her wince with each breath she took.

Her head was pounding, the ramifications of using her quirk coming out in full force. Dried blood had crusted around her mouth and nose, leaving her skin feeling itchy and dry. She'd thrown up a while ago, and the scent of it had only dissipated recently.

Every once in a while she would hear feet shuffling outside the door, voices passing by her like ships in the night. They'd taken Katsuki from this room a while ago, the blonde boy struggling and screaming curses that had flushed her cheeks red. If she hadn't been so terrified, she might've found his creative cursing funny, but instead his explosive display of rage had settled heavily in the pit of her stomach.

"Why did they separate us?"

She whispered into the dark room, as if expecting the shadows to answer. She half expected the monsters living inside of her to speak, to taunt and tease and torment her because once again, she hadn't been enough.

They didn't.

Everything was quiet, maddeningly so. She wanted to scream, longed for that scratchy soreness that came from it, for the way her voice would undoubtedly bounce off of the metal walls surrounding her.

She knew it was pointless.

Nobody is coming for me.

That realization should've settled in a long time ago, but she'd held out hope. Held onto the misguided dream that Aizawa or All Might or any of her classmates gave a shit enough to come get her. That maybe, just maybe, Shoto had found a way to get to her. That maybe Momo had some genius plan - that anyone had any idea where she was.

Bitterness was never her forte, not since she was a kid. Sakura had called Emiko her 'eternal ray of optimistic sunshine'. That sunshine was fading though, and fast. Darkness settled into her soul, numbed her until she had no reason to keep fighting. Left her feeling anxious and shaky, which she knew was the worst thing to be feeling at a time like this. It'd been drilled into her head since she was a child - Never give into despair, kid. You're too good for that. Sakura had told her that every time Emiko had started to break down, and only now was that lesson starting to crumble.

"FUCK!" She screamed, throwing her head back, half expecting a wall to have cropped up behind her. She kicked her legs, trying to topple the chair she was strapped to.

It was useless. The chair didn't budge, just as it hadn't budged hours ago when she tried the same thing. Still, though, she thrashed. She tried to rip her arms out of the cuffs binding her, ignoring the biting pain of rope on flesh. Ignored the warm feeling of blood puddling in the palms of her hands, ignored the soft sounds of it hitting the rough concrete floor.

"God fucking damnit, what do you want from me?!" She hollered, her voice breaking as she called out. "What the fuck do you want from me?"

There was no reason she should be here. She didn't have the abilities that Katsuki had, and she wasn't particularly useful. She wasn't cut out for villainy and she knew it and she just... couldn't figure it out.

It doesn't make any sense. Katsuki? Sure, I get that. Even Shoto I could understand - but... why me?

That thought forced doubt and dread into her mind, because as far as she could tell, there was no reason for them to want her. There was no reason for her to be considered worthy of villainy. Despite her breaking emotions in the sports festival, Emiko hadn't come across as a 'bad guy'. Most people, she figured, thought she was just a little unhinged and upset at losing to a classmate.

Periodically, she could hear the voices of the villains who'd taken her outside the door. She heard them scuttling around like rats, footsteps passing by her like ships in the night.

"She wants to see her. Alone. The Master wanted us to get the boy, but our instructions to get the girl were all Ruse's doing. She has... special plans for her..."

The scratchy voice of the leader, who's name she'd learned was Shigaraki, had sent shivers down her spine with the ominous declaration. The fact that she had been specifically targeted by this "Ruse", out of all her powerful classmates, made her feel uneasy. It left a sickly feeling in her stomach, anxiety pooling around her.

She tried to picture him in her mind, seeing that pale gray hand cupping his face. The image of him in her head was not nearly as terrifying as seeing him in person was, but it fed into an almost unbearable panic in her chest.

Breathe in... Breathe out... In... Out... In-

The door opened, and a backlit figure swept into the room, a long cloak just brushing the floor. Her eyes had barely adjusted to the light pouring in from the hall when the clicking sound of heels caught her ears.

"Hello, Miko" an impossibly silky, smooth voice practically purred.

No. No. Nonono. No fucking way.